Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

In the 1980s it felt like everyone smoked, and, indeed, at the time, 40 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women over 18 in Australia were smokers. In the years that followed, a dramatic picture of rapidly decreasing rates of smoking across the community emerged as concerted, consistent and collaborative public health campaigns took effect. As the 1990s rolled around, Professor Mike Daube, then Deputy Chair of the Australian government's Preventative Health Taskforce, said, without prevarication, that public health campaigns had had a direct effect on the declining smoking rates and that this drop in smoking rates had been matched by a decrease in lung cancer deaths. The trend Professor Daube noted coincided with a period of new, well-funded Quit campaigns and an upsurge in debate about tobacco control issues in the media.

It's through this frame that I look at the motion moved by the member for Higgins today, because at the time I was working as part of that preventative health community, robustly discussing how we might reduce the number of people smoking whilst working to ensure the most vulnerable were not left to pay the highest price. It was an exciting time. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion had been developed in 1986 at the first international conference on health promotion. A first of its kind, the charter recognised the many determinants of health and provided those working across the community with a framework which identified five action areas to be used for effective health promotion. This was not about lecturing people about what was not good for them. Instead, we got smart and looked broadly across the environment to find ways we could help people make better decisions, better choices, simply by making the unhealthy ones harder to do. While I wasn't there when the charter was developed, its principles have fundamentally driven the majority of the work I have done in my lifetime. Today they continue to inform public health strategy universally and are also taught to students as part of the personal development, health and physical education program in high schools nationally.

Fast forward to 2022, and the most recent ABS report shows three out of every five Australians over 18 have never smoked, and daily smokers have reduced to one in 10. Alarmingly, though, as smoking of tobacco has declined, we have seen the emergence of e-cigarettes and vaping devices. And one in five people aged 18 to 24 now report that they have used one of these devices at least once. While e-cigarettes may represent potential pathways to quitting a nicotine habit, there are undeniable health risks associated with vaping. Coupled with the environmental impact of discarded canisters, there is little to like about vaping from a public point of view. It seems we must yet again fight to create a healthy society as tobacco companies pivot their product offering.

With all of this said, there is no doubt that the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco was a milestone moment in Australia. I certainly remember the courage that the then health minister Nicola Roxon showed as she worked to shepherd that reform through our parliament, but we must also never forget all of those who worked with her to make that possible—people like Professor Simon Chapman, an emeritus professor at Sydney University, who has worked for more than three decades as a researcher, commentator and activist in the areas of tobacco control, media coverage and health and illness risk communications; Anne Jones OAM, the former CEO of Action on Smoking and Health Australia; John Bevins, the former advertising director who developed the concept of a sponge ad for the New South Wales health apartment—his agency was one of the first to refuse tobacco accounts; Steve Woodward, who led the campaign for no less than seven private member and government bills in both federal and state parliaments to ban tobacco advertising; Hon Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, who, while serving as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, used his voice to advocate for more ambitious targets; anyone who ever worked in any of the health promotion units or NGOs, such as the Cancer Council, ASH, the Quit campaigns or a cancer society; and, at the very least, the 200-odd people identified in the end notes in the landmark report The development of tobacco control: Australia's role.

Minister Roxon has this piece of legislation credited to her name, but it took cooperation across party lines and persistent advocacy from people outside government for this reform to eventuate. We must heed the lessons of that advocacy as we face the new trend of vaping. We cannot afford a lull in legislative activity concerning the supply of nicotine products, nor should there be any lessening of restrictions around where and when a person can vape. We must also ensure we continue to provide appropriate funding for public education, and, finally, we must be ever vigilant as to the distribution mechanisms of these products. Corner stores parading as candy convenience outlets whilst also selling non-nicotine vapes, and the opening of tobacco retailers close to schools must not be allowed. We must come together again as a committee to hold our ground.

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